Kathmandu, April 24. The United States Army is currently developing the “Pike Ferritin Nanoparticle (SpFN) COVID-19 vaccine”.

The preliminary trial tests conducted on Nonhuman primates have indicated that the vaccine is should have a strong protection ability against all variants of the novel coronavirus.

Professor Luke O’Neill of Trinity College, renowned immunology expert, told Newstalk, “There’s a massive effort happening in the US at the moment, trying to make what’s called a Universal Vaccine… This is now the Moon shot, they’re calling it in a way, the US is all over this”.

The official publications describe that the vaccine has been built on a ferritin-based nanoparticle platform. The researchers have taken the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD, a major common particle in all strains of coronavirus) and fixed it on the ferritin base. 

‘The ferritin particles are loaded with a high number of RBDs… which were given to monkeys and miraculously protected them against SARS – the original virus – SARS-CoV-2, Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron.’ Professor Luke O’Neill explained.

The military vaccine is based on the United States’s “pan-SARS” strategy which intends to address the current pandemic as well as prepare for the prevention and control of future variants.

The vaccine entered the “phase one human trials” in April last year.

Kayvon Modjarrad, Director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch of the military research organ recently released a statement in which he said, “This vaccine stands out in the COVID-19 vaccine landscape … the results are expected to release soon”.

Click here to read the preliminary trial report entitled “A SARS-CoV-2 ferritin nanoparticle vaccine elicits protective immune responses in nonhuman primates” published on Science Translational Medicine.